Growth Performance and Rearing Costs of Fayoumi and White Leghorn Chicken Breeds

Abstract

In Eastern Ethiopia, small scale poultry farmers desire Fayoumi and White leghorn breeds for their active and efficient foragers, better productivity and adaptation to the environment. However, there is no extensively studied research work on their growth performance and rearing cost. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth performance of Fayoumi and leghorn chicken breeds. A total of 1152 intermediate size eggs from Fayoumi and White leghorn strains of nearly similar average age were selected and randomly arranged into three replicates each constituted 192 eggs in a CRD. Eggs were incubated on the same day and the chicks hatched on the same day (21 days) were individually counted and weighed to determine hatchling weight and hatchability. The birds were intensively raised on deep litter system for 12 weeks, but kept separately according to the initial treatment of eggs to determine their relative subsequent growth performances. In this study, White leghorn brooders were better in growth rate and survival whereas Fayoumi brooders were outperformed in terms of good feed conversion ratio and economic profits under the same conditions. There were significant (P< 0.0001) differences in total feed consumed, cost of feed consumed, and total rearing cost and profits. The maximum cost was incurred on raising in White leghorn breed while minimum cost was incurred on raising the Fayoumi breed. The total profit obtained from the sale of a Fayoumi breed was higher by 4.68 Birr as compared to a leghorn counterpart. It can, thus, be concluded that the Fayoumi breed can be selected for its better feed conversion to gain the same weight, lower rearing cost and better economic returns while the white leghorn breed can be selected for their superior survival and growth rate traits.